From: Ben Creisler
bcreisler@gmail.com
A new online paper:
Sarah A. E. Brown, Margaret E. Collinson & Andrew C. Scott (2013)
Did fire play a role in formation of dinosaur-rich deposits? An
example from the Late Cretaceous of Canada.
Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments (advance online publication)
DOI: 10.1007/s12549-013-0123-y
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12549-013-0123-y
The mid-late Campanian Dinosaur Park Formation outcropping within
Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, Canada, contains multiple dinosaur
deposits occurring as bone beds, articulated skeletons, isolated bones
and microvertebrate deposits. Due to the abundance of dinosaur
deposits, the exposure of Cretaceous sediments, and the presence of
charcoal, this locality acts as a good test site for investigating the
implications of fire-impacted landscapes for the formation of
vertebrate deposits. Despite prior palaeontological and geological
research being carried out into this Formation, the presence of
charcoal in vertebrate deposits has never previously been recorded.
This study compares charcoal content in vertebrate deposits (two bone
beds, two beds with articulated skeletons), 6 sediment samples with
isolated bones and 23 sediments with no bone. Charcoal is more
abundant in the vertebrate deposits than in sediments containing
isolated bones or no bones, including those in identical lithofacies.
This evidence suggests that flooding events following wildfires are
likely to have played a role in the formation of some vertebrate
deposits.